Legend of Zelda: Prophecy of Darkness
by Shebu
Summary: Original story set before Ocarina of Time. A young boy named Link sets out on a mission to retrieve Hyrule's missing princess from a mysterious religious group of extremists who plan to bring a great evil into their world once more.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, peeps. I've had an idea for this for a while now, and just now was I able to get it out in writing. I know, I do have another story to finish. I've got kind of a writer's block with that one but I assure you that I am still working on it. It will be updated. **

**Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this one. This is not a canon story, nor should it be taken as one. I did this just for fun and practice with writing and creating a diversity of characters. There isn't much development in this chapter, but hopefully it will get better.**

**The story is set before Ocarina of Time, and after Minish Cap and Skyward Sword.**

**Ugh I need to make my chapters longer. Please, R&R too! I need all the critique I can get!**

* * *

"Link! Are you finished with the dumplings?" A woman's voice called from upstairs. The blonde-haired boy lifted his head from the frying pans above the stove, and called back to her from his place in the kitchen. "Almost, Miss Akane!" He replied.

The servant boy stirred the dumplings one last time before he lifted the pot off the stove with care, and took it up the stairs where his master was waiting for him. She quickly took it from his hands, "Thank you. What have you for the desserts?" She asked him. He smiled, "Apple pie, miss. Your favorite."

"That sounds wonderful. I hope the guests love it as much as I do. You can go and clean up now, thank you for your hard work."

"As do I."

Link turned around and headed back down the stairs and back into his little kitchen. Finally, he thought. He almost thought they would never stop requesting more food. Rich people were always demanding. The boy took the pie out from in the cupboards and spread a bit of cream over it, covering its golden crust underneath. He carried the pan of beautiful apple pie up the stairs once more, and handed it to Miss Akane, the owner of the house of which he worked. Akane was a young rich woman, who inherited her late father's cattle-raising business in the simple village of Kakariko. She was unmarried, but a very capable woman and very well respected in the community. She hired the boy out of charity. Being a little orphan, he had no home to go to, but when she heard of his cooking abilities and hard-working personality, she let him work in her kitchens as a cook and in return, gave him food and shelter. He was very grateful, and she was very good to him, but didn't always enjoy the work.

In the past few days, he had been especially slow. He felt that he had been suffering from some sort of insomnia. It was unusual for him, a teenaged-boy who could usually sleep like a rock and not get up for hours, if anyone had let him. Yet, something kept him awake deep into the night. He wasn't sure what it was, but he felt like he could hear people's agonizing screams echoing in the back of his mind. Though it was quite subtle, he knew those screams weren't just his imagination. They sounded so _real._

Of course, he asked Miss Akane if she had been hearing people late at night as well, but she told him she hadn't heard a sound, apart from the late-night mooing of cows and winnies stressed out of horses. Hearing this, he was beginning to think he was going mad. Link tried as best as he could to ignore the midnight screams.

One morning, he prepared breakfast for Miss Akane.

"Thank you." She said as she took a sip of the warm, slightly steaming tea. She took a look at the morning paper, writing and small, black-and-white illustrations were scribbled all over it, giving a picture of the weekly news, and happenings throughout the land of Hyrule. Link peered at it from over her shoulder.

"Hmm." She mumbled. Link raised a curious eyebrow.

"The kidnappings are happening more than ever." She sighed, "Those good-for-nothing Extremists…"

"Extremists?" Link asked.

"A group of religious people who think that fundamentalism is the right way to go. Only… I think these people worship demons rather than the goddesses… They've been kidnapping people for some reason and using religion to justify what they've done." She explained, setting the paper down on the table. "Nayru knows when they'll come ransacking our little town next."

The boy blinked. He had never heard of this before. This was probably so because he had not any social life outside of Kakariko Village. And even then, he barely talked to many people within the town because he was usually working. Hopefully, the Extremists would not come for anyone in Kakariko.

He decided to push that concern out of his mind.

Akane spoke again, snapping Link from his thoughts. "Hey… what would you say if… I decided to pay you some money for your work? I'm tired of feeling guilty for not giving you enough."

Link was taken aback by this. Although Akane was usually a very kind and caring woman, never before had she been so gracious to him. "No, no! You really don't have to. I've got everything I need already!"

Akane chuckled, "You deserve extra pay, and you've always worked hard. Please don't turn it down, you might need a little money someday." She turned her brown eyes to face his deep blue ones with a pleading look. Link couldn't take her money, he thought. With a sigh, he realized that he couldn't argue with her either.

"Three rupees an hour? It's not much."

"Alright…"

"Good! We'll start tomorrow, then."

Still, Link felt like he did not deserve any rupees at all. He was thankful for what he had, and he didn't want to take her money.

Random conversations popped up and faded out throughout the day. When Link wasn't very busy, Akane would usually be the one to start a conversation. It was quite obvious that she was a lonely woman, seeing as how she was the only one living in the big house that she inherited besides Link and a few other servants, like nurses and cleaners. She would never really admit that she yearned for a husband, or someone to share things with. Sometimes it felt like Link filled the void for her by being a good listener and having someone to talk to.

As the long, quiet days dragged on, Link couldn't help but to feel bored by everything. There wasn't much that was quite exciting around the peaceful town of Kakariko, other than the occasional rockslides from the somewhat active volcano, Death Mountain. But the small village was far out of reach for anything to cause damage.

At least feeding the feral cats made the days a little bit brighter.

* * *

The dark figure sat by a fire, warming his hands while his body was wrapped underneath a black cloak. The twilight spread across the vast field, leaving only the horizon visible under starlight. The figure, who was only a child, pulled out a shining dagger from the sheath on his waist belt, examining it closely. It seemed to give off an odd aura. It felt almost… irritating to him. He scowled, "Why don't you ever do as I ask? You're so useless."

Of course, weapons didn't usually respond.

He scoffed, throwing it on the ground. It was the only thing he had, and yet, he had no idea of its purpose. The child had been suffering from amnesia, and the only thing he found in his possession was this particular dagger. The dagger could cleanly cut, and was dangerously sharp, but some kind of magical enchantment or spell kept it from bringing death to whatever it pierced.

The child picked up the dagger and put it in a sheath under his cloak as he pulled the hood from over his head, showing thin, silvery-white hair that was pulled back in a short ponytail, leaving only a fringe of hair on his forehead, darkened skin, and dark red eyes. He wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve. He was a Sheikah, all alone is Hyrule field.

The sounds of drumming hooves reached his ears. He jolted upright, eyes wide open and worriedly scanning the field. After a moment of the sounds of approaching people on horses grew louder and closer, he stood up and quickly stomped on the small fire he'd made for himself, eventually putting it out. Now with no light upon the dark field, the young boy fled behind a nearby bush to keep hidden from the approaching horsemen. As soon as they came into view, one of the riders gave out a loud "whoa," that signaled their equine mounts to stop their galloping.

"Look, sir," A woman's voice remarked, "It's the remains of a campfire. Someone must have rested here only moments ago."

The child pressed himself lower to the ground, to further prevent himself from being seen by these strangers. He knew very well that Hyrule Field at night was very dangerous, and monsters and bandits roamed free to cause trouble for any poor soul who chose to wander alone. He could not risk being spotted.

He then heard the sound of feet landing on the ground; possibly someone dismounting a horse. The child lifted his head, getting a small glimpse of the band and saw a tall, dark figure examining the small, recently abandoned campsite. The figure kicked the ashes where the fire was and bright embers flew in the air. It was still smoking too. "They can't have gone far yet." The figure said in a low, calm tone. "They'll probably just get eaten by Stalchildren. Let's just set up camp here."

"Sir?" The woman spoke up, "Don't you think we should catch them first?"

"Like I said, Lamia," He grew a bit irritated, "They will most likely be caught by monsters before we could even find them. Now water the horses and we will rest here for tonight. We should arrive in Kakariko late tomorrow."

The child ducked his head down, noticing the other horsemen were dismounting as well, but still tried to listen in on their conversations, hoping that they would not be suspicious of him.

"Please, no more kidnapping people. I'm tired of violence…" A young girl's voice pleaded. She sounded very pathetic and fatigued.

The man chuckled, "Well that's too bad." He said mockingly, "We still have yet to find your little husband, your highness."

"I do not know who you are talking about. I don't have a husband."

The man ignored her retort and just sneered.

After a brief moment of silence, the girl spoke again, "Please tell me what you are planning."

_Wait, _the child thought, _did he just say 'your highness'?_

His eyes widened at the realization that he was spying on the most secretive and dangerous group of people in Hyrule, and its princess taken captive. For weeks, she had been missing from her safe haven in the castle, and people all over the country made it their soul duty to find her. It was only recently when it was revealed that she had been nabbed by an extremist religious group whose intentions were not clear.

The boy backed away slowly, hoping to sneak off to find the nearest town to give news of the location of Hyrule's missing princess, and possibly warn them of the group that planned to terrorize and kidnap people from their homes. When he was out of earshot of the band, he ran into the depths of the forest's edge, toward the quiet village of Kakariko.


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter was a doozy to write. It didn't take very long for the most part. I just stopped writing at the very end for some reason and didn't pick it back up until today. Sorry about the wait. I hope this chapter is much more worth your time. I'm slowly trying to get into the swing of writing longer and more interesting chapters. The next chapter will be hopefully better, and more things will happen. But for now, I leave you with this piece of work.**

* * *

For Link, the next day started out with the same high-pitched howling from the hungry cats outside the back door.

"Why can't they _wait_?" He groaned as he dug his face deeper into his pillow. He had no desire to wake up this early. The bed was just so _warm_.

_Mrrroooowww…_

He shifted a little, stretched his arms out, and rolled out of the bed. Sitting at the side of his bed, he felt a lot more sluggish than he usually did in the mornings. He was a bit nauseous too. Finally opening his eyes after a moment or two, he noticed that the room was unusually bright for the morning.

Link rubbed his eyes and yawned lazily, realizing that it was late in the morning, not dawn. "Oh right…" He thought aloud, "It's a Sunday."

Standing up and stretching once more, he couldn't help but notice that his surroundings were a bit… hazy. Maybe it was the sleep still clogged in his eye, he thought. After all, he hadn't remembered the last time he had stayed in bed this late.

He slowly meandered his way to the kitchen sink, where a pale of unused water from the night before was standing, and took a handful and splashed it on his face.

Link rubbed his eyes again, only opening them to find that his vision was foggier than before.

"What in the name of Din…" He mumbled to himself as his distress grew.

A sudden sting shot through his abdomen, rendering him to his knees, grimacing. The boy let out a pained yelp. "_A-Akane_!"

He tried to move, but found it to be very difficult without the throbbing in his abdominal area even more painful. He clutched his stomach and curled up on the floor. "Akane, _please help me_!" He yelled a bit louder.

He could hear quick and light footsteps descending the stairs, "What is the matter?" The woman said as she hastily ran down the steps. "Goddesses, Link." She gasped and kneeled over next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"I… I don't know…" He started, finding it challenging to even speak, "I woke up to find that I can't see very well… everything is blurry… and now I feel like something is stabbing me below my chest…"

Akane took a deep breath, and let it out slowly, trying to keep calm. She pressed her palm to his forehead, checking for a fever. He felt completely normal. "Okay, okay… at least you don't have a fever…" She paused for a moment, thinking, "It might just be a little bug."

"But I _can't see_." He repeated, his voice shaking.

"Alright. If you can get up onto your bed, I'll make you some soup. If you don't feel better after that, I'll take you to a physician."

For a moment, they both said nothing.

"Come on, get up. I'll help you." Akane insisted.

Link put a hand on the floor and tried to lift himself up. Akane assisted and helped him stay steady on his feet. The boy gripped his side and slowly made his way to the bed.

"Akane," Link said after laying his head down onto his pillow, "Will you feed the cats too? I don't want them to be hungry…"

The young woman gave him a reassuring smile, "Of course." She said softly.

Link closed his eyes, hoping that falling asleep would take his mind far away from the sudden drop in his health. But the thing was, he wasn't tired at all. He had already slept as long as he could through the night.

Akane gave him one last pat on the shoulder, and made her way to the stove to heat the broth she'd promised to make for the boy. She periodically glanced over him to check if he was doing alright.

"Have you… uhm," She started, "ever felt like this before?"

After a moment, his only response was a single shake of his head.

"Alright then." Akane said while rummaging through the cupboards for the salt, not exactly sure of how to really make soup. She never was very skilled in the kitchen.

For only a split second, Link thought he could hear people screaming again.

He shut his eyes tighter, blocking it out of his mind. After he hoisted himself up and sipped some of the broth Akane warmed for him, he felt a little bit better. Eventually, he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

The young Shiekah boy stumbled at the entrance of Kakariko Village. Sweating, exhausted, and out of breath, he wiped his brow and breathed heavily to refill his lungs with air. Night had almost taken over, with just a little bit of pinkness left in the sky to light up the quiet town, save for a few lights inside houses. The child had been running constantly all day.

He pulled the hood of his cloak off of his head, and glanced to his left to see a small sign. The Hylian words made out "Kakariko Village", confirming his location.

Standing up straight again, the boy made his way into the village. Almost no one was outside of their houses, except for a few animals, and people giving the animals their evening amount of food. Some people stopped to stare at him. Seeing a Shiekah was quite a rare occurrence, seeing as how they were almost wiped out by the royal family when a Shiekah servant committed some crime, disgracing the entire race.

The boy scowled at this. It wasn't _his_ fault one irresponsible servant decided to make a terrible decision. _He_ didn't deserve the oppression brought on by the_ so entitled Hylians_. Just because the Goddesses created the Shiekah to serve the children of Hylia, doesn't mean they couldn't have any free will.

The Shiekah child shook his head. He had to think of something else. He needed to focus on the task at hand. That is, if he knew what it was. Somehow, he felt a drive to go to this very village and he didn't know why. Maybe, he thought, he had been here before? Or had someone told him to come here before he lost his memory?

Then he suddenly remembered something. The night before, he had overheard infamous the band of kidnappers planning on targeting this very village next. Apparently, they were looking for someone. They already had the princess of Hyrule in their possession. The child wondered, _who would they take next? Why would they need someone else? For what? _To the entire land of Hyrule, their intentions remained a mystery.

The boy aimlessly walked around the village multiple times, without a particular destination. He was _stuck_, somewhat. At a loss of where to go next. Night had finally settled in, and the locals already locked themselves in their little homes. He was suddenly drawn to one house in particular. It was quite larger than most of the other homes, and appeared to be wealthier too. For a short while, he just stood in front of it, gazing up into its large, dark windows. He looked back down at the ground, finding the glowing eyes of a small creature, staring at him from the shadows. It was a cat—or two… maybe three. He couldn't tell how many where there. Just staring. They didn't very look unfriendly at all, but just curious.

He crouched down and held out his hand as a small white one came forward to get a better look at the stranger. The feline sniffed his hand carefully, deciding whether to trust him or not, then finally nuzzling its head into the child's palm.

He couldn't help but to smile at this. Being accepted by someone comforted him because he usually felt so lonely. He often found himself very lonesome in crowds. He sat there for a bit, stroking the feline's silky smooth fur, not even keeping track of how long he had been there.

"Oh. Uh… you okay there?"

The boy froze and looked up to see a young woman staring down at him in confusion. She seemed to be holding a pan of… something, as if she was serving a tray of food. Maybe it was for the cats. He stood up, brushing himself clean of any dirt he might have collected from being on the ground.

The woman spoke up again, "You need anything?"

The boy looked her in the eye, "N-no mam. I was just—"

"Ah, petting the cats, I see."

The boy gave her a nod, a bit embarrassed.

She continued, "They're quite nice little things. I just came out here to feed them since my cook is sick. He usually brings them food. I wish I could figure out what's wrong with him so I can help him feel better…"

She trailed off, and gave an unhappy sigh. The child nodded again, an awkward silence following, until the woman spoke again.

"Come to think of it, I've never seen you around here before. Do you live here?"

"No mam. This is my first time here, I believe."

"Interesting. You wouldn't happen to be a Shiekah, would you? I just noticed your beautiful red eyes and dark skin."

"Oh, uh…" The boy involuntarily put a hand on his face, "Yes I am."

"Ah, I knew it!" The woman gave a warm, accepting smile. It was a smile he had never seen anyone give to a Shiekah. "My name is Akane." She held her hand out, letting the boy shake it. "What's yours?"

He hesitated, not usually trusting of strangers, but… he felt like it was safe to introduce himself to this kind woman. "Kenji." He said, finally cracking a small grin.

"Pleasure to meet you, Kenji."

She put the tray of cat food down on the ground, letting the hungry felines eat the dinner they had been waiting so long for.

"I guess it's time for me to finally go to bed. It's late. Do you need a place to stay tonight?"

"I, uh, not tonight. I have to… do something. If I do come back though, can I stay then?"

"Of course. I just don't like to see kids wandering around the village at night. I feel like… it's not safe for some reason."

"I see your point."

After a brief moment of saying their goodbyes, the two continued their businesses. Kenji, the Shiekah, however, still didn't know exactly where his destination was. He still felt oddly drawn to the house in which Akane lived in, but didn't know why. So he sat nearby, and waited. Waited for _something._

He remembered the mysterious band of kidnappers, though, and wondered what they were planning to do to this town, seeing how it was their next destination. The only thing he did know was that they were looking for someone.

He heard someone coming out of the house again. Though, this time, it wasn't Akane at all. It was a Hylian boy, who looked about no older than fourteen. He wasn't very tall, but he definitely was a little taller than Kenji himself, with pale blond hair, and deep, bright blue eyes. He was looking rather pale, too, and moonlight reflected off of his sweaty brow. Maybe he was that sick cook that Akane lady was talking about.

The young teen didn't seem to notice Kenji was even there, but instead, stumbled toward an empty trash barrel and vomited.

_That's definitely the cook, _Kenji noted in his head, slightly repulsed by the stench of bile. After the kid was done retching, he turned around to lean on the side of the house and stopped to breathe for a moment. The color in his face was even more drained out.

"Third time today…" The boy mumbled, a bit irritated and worn out.

Kenji could hear Akane's voice from inside the house, "_Link!_ Link, get back inside and lay down… You need to stop walking around."

_Link. What an odd name, _he mused, feeling a bit concerned for the guy. But then something hit him, some kind of recognition of the name. He knew he'd heard it somewhere, but couldn't put a finger on where.

Kenji grew frustrated. He hated not being able to remember things. It happened very often too. Whenever he tried to recall any sort of thing that sounded like he's heard it before, he just became stuck.

One of the many disadvantages of having amnesia.

Kenji looked back up at Link, still not even noticing the Shiekah sitting only a few yards away from him. He started to pace in a circle, muttering some words that Kenji couldn't hear well enough to understand.

Akane called for him again, this time taking him by the shoulder, "Link, come inside."

"_B-but I can't see again_!" He cried, his voice took on a distressed tone. "_It's worse than before_!"

"Then let's feed you a little soup again. That helped last time, right?"

"But I just… I just threw up. I d-don't think I'll be able to handle it…" He choked out the words as he became shaky, and started to quietly sob. This little cook seemed kind of pathetic to Kenji, but he couldn't help but to pity him.

"Come on, we've got to just try. Just a little at a time, okay?" Akane led him inside, patting his shoulder gently.

As they went in, the door shut, and he could see them no more. Kenji tried hard to figure out where he'd heard Link's name before, but still just managed to frustrate himself even more.

Link, meanwhile, was a little more in the mood of eating something sweeter than soup. The salty taste just made him a bit more nauseous than he already was. Akane found him a few strawberries that they had preserved from the day before, and eating them helped his symptoms clear out better than the last time he tried eating. But somehow, he knew that this wasn't going to make him _completely_ better. He felt like this sickness was going to stick around for a while. He just didn't know _how_ long.

Feeling a bit more relieved, Link decided to go out for a walk. He thought it would be best if he got some fresh air.

"Link, I told you to rest." Akane said just before he walked out the door, "Stay inside."

"I just need to breathe for a moment. I haven't felt the outdoors all day."

"Link…"

"Please? I feel a bit better."

She hesitated, feeling an urge to be overprotective and say no. But she lightened up and reasoned, "Okay. You do need fresh air. Don't go far, and come back quickly. I don't want you to collapse somewhere and not have anyone to help you."

"I know, Akane. I know you're just trying to take care of me." He started for the porch, "Thank you." He said just before he shut the door behind him.

As he stepped into the twilit night, he just then realized how late it had gotten. Past midnight, probably.

He took a deep breath, and let out a long sigh, aimlessly walking around the village.

He stopped in his tracks and held his breath as the sudden sound of crashing and explosions reached his ears. They were close, coming from the entrance of the village.

He turned around in shock, hearing the screams of civilians fleeing from danger.

Kakariko was under attack.


End file.
